Sencha describes Sencha Architect 2, the latest incarnation of its visual Web development tool, as "a massive upgrade to Ext Designer," the previous version. The name change from Designer to Architect reflects the product's new focus. Instead of a tool for building Web UIs, Sencha says the new version is suitable for creating complete Web applications, both for UI designers and back-end developers. That's true up to a point.

Despite the gold-rush atmosphere around mobile application development, you won't find many newbie-friendly tools aligned to help nonprogrammers mine for application riches. Even if the target platforms often seem like toys, most of the development kits are still developer-minded and code-centric, and they can present formidable hurdles to the uninitiated.

The Eclipse Foundation for open source development tools is eyeing July as the release date for the 1.0 version of its Orion browser-based IDE for building Web applications, which will be discussed at this week's EclipseCon 2012 conference in Reston, Va.

InfoWorld gives you the full scoop on the state of the cloud in 2012, including key trends in the cloud's technology and its job opportunities, as well as what you have to know about the cloud before developing for it.

The story of Node.js reads like it came from a Hollywood script assembly line: Some kids are monkeying around with scrap they picked up around the Internet and find a new way to snap it together. The next thing you know, they're lapping the pack at the racetrack and coasting to the winner's circle.

Web application development reached a new paradigm with the release of Ruby on Rails back in 2004. Ruby on Rails creator David Heinemeier Hansson has since been at the helm of one of the most successful and popular open source software development projects. Ruby on Rails, or just Rails, has allowed thousands of developers to create complex applications rapidly in a consistent manner. Open Source Identity catches up David Heinemeier Hansson to find out what the early days of Rails was like and what the future holds.